Story by Tamuka Charakupa
THE Civil Registry department is set to take the e-passport to Chipinge in Manicaland Province as the government works to decentralise critical services.
The government has set in motion plans to establish a one-stop registry centre in Chipinge, which will see an e-passport office being set up in the town.
Giving an update on the development in Chipinge this Wednesday, Manicaland Provincial Registrar, Mrs Joyce Munamati said the government has already engaged a contractor to work on the project which is expected to take off this month.
“This programme is about the government finalising plans to establish an e-passport service in Chipinge. Chipinge has pioneered this service in Manicaland and we believe this is going to serve so many people. You can see here, we have brought the contractors and is here to assess and map a way forward towards setting up the infrastructure,” said Mrs Joyce Munamati.
The development is part of the government’s 100-day cycle projects.
“The project is feeding into the 100-day programme in the department and also into NDS1 where the government is fulfilling its mantra of leaving no one and no place in development issues. As you can see the e-passport is being launched deep down and far away from the city centres,” added Munamati.
Chipinge District Development Coordinator, Mr William Mashava welcomed the development and took the opportunity to inform residents that registry services will still be available while the e-passport office is being set up.
“As Chipinge district we welcome this development. We want to assure our people that normal registry services will continue to be offered while renovations for the e-passport are being made. This will ensure that Chipinge will be a one-stop registry service centre,” said Mr William Mashava.
Zimbabwe now has e-passport offices in eight of the country’s 10 provinces, with Masvingo being the next in line.
